Allies and Morrison create a new, sustainable city in Oman

The new city will act as a model for future sustainable development for growing cities while combining the Omani culture and heritage

Allies and Morrison

The Omani terrain, carved with wadis, was the inspiration for the design

A masterplan for a new city, Madinat Al Irfan has been revealed by The Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran). The Royal Institute of British Architects held a competition to choose the architect of the new urban project, and selected Allies and Morrison. The project will be built on 624 hectares of undeveloped land, near the Sultanate’s capital, Muscat and neighbouring city Seeb.

The new city will have a population of 280,00 people, and act as a model for future sustainable development for growing cities while combining the Omani culture and heritage by using the natural terrain to create a picturesque urban environment.

The population will be encouraged to walk, instead of driving cars, with natural shading helping to cool down the hot environment of the location.

"Madinat Al Irfan has given us the opportunity to explore a series of thoughts, ideas and long-held preoccupations on placemaking, but now on a much larger scale – an entire city," the project's lead architect, Alfredo Caraballo told Dezeen.

"At the core is the aspiration of creating a city that is both connected to its time and place while belonging to a long tradition."

The Omani terrain, carved with wadis, which are the seasonal water courses that erode the desert plateau, was the inspiration for the design, and dictated the distribution of the population. Small grain villages will be located in the areas of increased topography, and urban centres will be located in the plateau-like areas of the site, all connected by bridges to the villages on the Southern side of the development. The area will continue to grow with the development completed in phases.

"The masterplan exemplifies many of the ambitions set out in the New Urban Agenda adopted recently at UN Habitat III," said Allies and Morrison, "addressing a range of challenges from housing to happiness, offering a visionary and implementable alternative to the car-dominated, resource-hungry and identikit urbanism of the last three decades."